McCAFFERY: Flyers getting by with little help from stars

VOORHEES — Claude Giroux, the captain, the best player in the world as a man once said, does not have a goal in the first round of the postseason. And the Flyers are even in games with the Rangers.

Vinny Lecavalier, the Hall of Fame center-elect, the $22.5 million free-agency investment, has yet to score a goal. And the Flyers have won two of the last three.

Ray Emery was ordinary in goal through three starts, only two necessary. And the Flyers will head into Madison Square Garden Sunday afternoon, still not facing elimination.

The Flyers won, 2-1, Friday, surrendering 38 shots, taking only 25. So they are on the one-game winning streak, and the Rangers are trying to figure out why.

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In a series guaranteed to stretch six games, there remains time, plenty of it, for it to reveal its true self. But as for Saturday at the Skate Zone, where they were practicing before a hooting, hollering crowd, the Flyers were content to know this much: They haven’t played well … and they haven’t been defeated.

“It’s 2-2,” Mark Streit said. “And even in the last game, we didn’t play our best. Steve Mason played unbelievable and we got a win, but everybody in the room realizes we can play better and we need to play better. And that’s got to start now.”

Not that it necessarily will, but in can start, for the Flyers have that ability. Mason is back from his non-lower-body injury, and 37 times Friday he left Rangers frustrated. The Flyers had seven 20-plus goal scorers, can go three lines deep, maybe four. After their 1-7 start, they won 41 times and lost 30 in regulation. Craig Berube will be a Coach of the Year candidate.

The Flyers are not too young, not too old, not too injured. They can be a problem in a playoff series … if they ever play to their ability.

“I think we can play better, but I think they can play better too,” Giroux said. “Both teams are trying to find their 60-minute game and kind of play a full team game. I think we’re getting closer to doing that. And I think we can play a lot better than we did in the last game. Obviously, Steve Mason did a great job of keeping us in the game. But we have to do a better job, offensively and defensively.”

The four-series playoff format forces teams to win in various ways. Some nights --- Friday was one for the Flyers--- it will require a goaltender whitewash otherwise leaky play. There might be a requirement to win a high-scoring game. Overtime likely will lurk. Luck is involved. Health. The refs.

Eventually, though, the true championship contenders will be required to create their own success. For the Flyers, that means they will need more from their top line of Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jake Voracek, who have combined for two goals, both by Voracek, one on a power play. They will need Wayne Simmonds to loiter in front of Henrick Lundqvist, creating a disturbance. Lecavalier must score.

The Flyers are defending well, particularly on the penalty-kill. Their depth is showing, with Jason Akeson, Luke Schenn and Streit, among others, surfacing as contributors. And they rallied to win Friday after falling behind, 1-0, a trait of theirs all season.

“To keep momentum, you have to stick with the game plan,” Voracek said. “But it doesn’t have to be the same thing over again. Eventually it’s going to work out.”

For the Flyers, it could. It could, because despite a creaky offense, they will take a one-game Madison Square Garden winning streak into Game 5.

Eventually, Giroux will score, and Hartnell will stop hitting posts, and Lecavalier will show why he is one of the best players of his generation. If so, the Rangers will wonder why they didn’t eliminate a struggling team when they had the chance.